Hello,

Chapeau Melon & Veste en Cuir* is a four-hand project by Gaëlle, the fashion designer, and me, Clément, the online marketer. The idea was born out of Gaëlle’s wish to combine two of her passions: men’s fashion and music. This might seem a bit dull written like that, but it pretty much sums it up! Fashion and music are closely linked and bridges can easily be built between these two universes which influence each other. The unavoidable reference is obviously Hedi Slimane, photograph and fashion designer, whose inspiration lies between the two universes. Analyzing bands and fans looks is a fascinating job which allows a fashion designer to highlight or anticipate trends. It is a well-practiced exercise among designers which gets materialized as moodboards, graphic collages which allow them to visualize and (theoritically) instantly understand a concept or trend. Applied to a band or a festival, they allow them to isolate specific aspects of a fashion style of an artist and/or specific aspects of his/her artistic world which can find an echo in the fashion world.

Chapeau Melon & Veste en Cuir is exactly this: analyses of male musicians’ creative world through the prism of fashion. Our ambition: for us to have fun, because we like doing this stuff, discuss it and lay it out for you to appreciate it ; and of course to shed a new light on bands we are fans of in order to inspire you, whether you are fans of fashion, of music, or both! Obviously, like everything remotely close to fashion, all the opinions expressed in our articles are totally subjective and should not to be taken as gospel.

Here are a some information about us if you’re interested:

Gaëlle

I am the fashion designer. ‘nough said, bitcheeees!

Hahem, more seriously I am in charge of everything fashion-related on Chapeau Melon. Through moodboards, those big graphic collages Clément was talking about just before, I organize visually what I find inspiring in the artists I choose. More than just analyzing what they wear, I try to reproduce their visual universe and style. During my studies I was somewhat formatted to become an object designer, but I chose fashion pretty much on an whim. Mais passionnée par la musique et le souci du détail, c’est tout naturellement que je me suis spécialisée dans la mode masculine. After 8 years working in northern France as concept fashion designer for men for La Redoute (top-ranked French e-commerce website for apparel and home decor) where I met Clément, I left France in 2014 to go work as a product fashion designer for men for Tom Tailor in Hamburg, Germany.

Clément

Hi again! I am the designer’s fiancé. I take care of the design and management of the website, the communication and translation. In short, everything that has nothing to do with fashion, and it is better for everyone! I am also in charge of transforming Gaëlle’s notes into the fantastic pieces of literature that you will find on the website. I also write stuff about music on a blog called Le Choix since 2008, a website which is in some sort of an artificial coma for the time being. In the real world, and as Gaëlle mentioned, I worked at La Redoute (sales + marketing stuff) and where I met our favourite fashion designer, then Twitter Europe in Dublin where I sold 140-character ads, and now for InnoGames in Hamburg where I am a marketing manager.